Brussels: Donor conference for Serbia, BiH

BRUSSELS - A big donor conference will bring together numerous officials and representatives of international institutions and organizations from Europe and the world in Brussels on Wednesday, in an effort to help remedy the consequences of the catastrophic floods that hit Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) in May.

The Serbian delegation is led by President Nikolic, on whose initiative this conference was scheduled in the first place.

During the conference, the Serbian delegation will present the first official report on the recent severe floods, according to which the total damage has been estimated at EUR 1.5 billion, with the direct damage at EUR 810.1 million and losses at EUR 661.9 million.

Jadranka Joksimovic, minister without portfolio responsible for EU integration, said ahead of the conference that she expects that considerable funds will be raised for repairing the damage caused by the severe floods in May, and underscored that so far Serbia has received the largest amount of aid from the EU.

She noted that the donor conference, held in the European Commission's headquarters and co-organized by France and Slovenia, has a major political and symbolic importance, but that it is primarily important for raising funds or seeking additional aid for repairing the flood damage.

By re-assigning the 2012 IPA funds, Serbia got EUR 30 million for the repair, from the 2013 funds around 10 million, she noted, adding that the country also got the go-ahead for using around EUR 50 million from the 2014 funds for remedying the consequences.

Joksimovic said that she will submit to EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn the final version of the Serbian application for assistance from the EU...

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